#5: Eden's Curse - Trinity
The first two Eden's Curse albums were decent, but ultimately just didn't do that much more me. I thought they had some pretty strong potential as Melodic Metal albums, but Michael Eden's voice was a little off-putting for me, and I was just never compelled to revisit the albums... but something about the album was just different for me in a huge way. Dream Theater vocalist James Labrie makes guest appearances throughout the album, most notably on the track "No Holy Man", though he provides very noticeable backing vocals on pretty much every track. Helloween's Andi Deris also contributes to the song "Black Widow", and though I normally can't stand Deris's voice, I enjoy the guest spot. Overall these songs just do it for me in a way I never expected them to. Really strong hooks and catchy, powerful choruses, some great guitar work, and melodic vocals. I know that there's nothing really groundbreaking going on here, but this has easily been one of my most-played albums this year, I just keep coming back to it, and that makes a big difference for me.